Improvement in type writing-machines



All 'Z'SheetS--Shee 2.

B. HALSTEAD.

Type Writing Machine.

No. 124,437. 'A Patented Marchizdsu.

lwsw 1772/6277! i??? NETED TATES rrron.

RIGHT TO JOSEPH W. MILLER, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN TVPE WRlTlNG-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 124,437, dated March 12, 1872.

Speciiication describing-certain Improvements in Thought-Printing Machines, invented by BENTON HALsTEAD, of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio.

My invention relates to the combination of astirrup and one ofthe keys of the key-board, by means of which the registering-table may be moved, without the application of the hands to the key-board, the distance intervening between words, and this is accomplished by the application of the foot to the stirrup-piece.

Figure ljis a plan of a machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same, showing those parts of the machine which are at the left hand of the line drawn across Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the type and attached arm. Fig. 4 is a detached sectional elevation of the typearm, key-lever, and connecting parts of the machine, on an enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detached view of the key-board and device for transmitting motion to the registering-table. Fig. 6 is an end view.

A is the frame of the machine, consisting of a table-top, a, resting upon legs a', which should be substantially constructed to resist the vibrations of the operating parts. B B are Vibrating arms, journaled near their lower and short sections, in raised boxes b b. These boxes are attached in a secure manner to the top of the table by tap-bolts c, which pass through large holes in the feet of the boxes b b to facilitate*4 any adjustment of the arms B B. The extreme ends of the long sections of the arms B B terminate in boxes d d, in which are secured, by set-screws, types, figures, or stops d', to be used in printing. To the opposite short ends of the arms are attached metallic rods c e, incased by short metallic cylinders f f. The rods are attached to rubber or metallic springs, and these springs g g are in turn secured to the frame-work of the machine beneath the table-top. The inner end of each of the keylevers C is perforated to give room to the rod e. The cylinder f incases each rod between the ends of the key-lever and the ends of the arms B. By the tension of thesprings g g the upper or type-ends of the arms B B are kept in contact with the elastic cushion o attached to the circular portion of the frame habove the table-top. D represents a registering-table of oblong form, adapted to slide freely upon waysz t attached to the upper and middle A portion of the ltable-top a. An inked ribbon,

j, is attached to the center of the right-hand end of the table D, and is extended over it bymeans of tension-strin gs attached to weights k k. The strings pass over pulleys on each side of the uprights to the frame above the tabletop a', and at such an elevation that the inked ribbon is elevated a short distance above the registerin g-table. A flexible cord, l, is attached to the right-hand end of the table D and the further uuweighted end of the lever E. An-

other cord, m, is attached by one end to the.

left-hand end of the registering-table D 5 is thence passed about' the requisite pulleys m m; then through eyed staples in the edge of the table-top at 1 1 and at 2 2 on the upper face of the keys 5 thence onto the weighted end of the lever E. In order to prevent any Inotion in lever While the key-board is being operated a coil of the cord m is made about the staple 3 in the edge of the table-top, near the last ri ght-hand staple 1. F is a stirrup attached to an extreme left-hand key. It is located near the iioor, and is adapted for the reception of the foot of the operator. Any one of the keys 4 4, when depressed, causes the registering-table D to shift from right to left in a manner which has been fully described. To one of the keys 4 4, so set as to have greater action than the others, the stirrup F is attached, which extends from said key downward near the iioor, into which stirrup the foot of the operator is placed. This key, to which the stirrup is attached, is not connected with the vibrating arms B B, (as Ythe other keys are,) so when it is depressed it does not cause a letter or emblem to be printed, but does cause the registering-table D to shift from right to left the proper distance for space between words. Then the operator has, by touching the keys 4 4 with his iingers, printed the word he had in his mind he presses downward suddenly with his foot th at is in the stirrup F that is attached tothis particular key, and by so doing' depresses it a greater distance than the other keys are depressed by the iingers in printing, and thus causes a greater distance or space to intervene between words than the space that does intervene between the letters of the words. Of course this particular key, which we may name the stirrup-key, is combined with eyed staples l 1, 2 2, and 3, lever E, cords 7 and m, and registering-table D, as all the other keys are, for it is one ofthe keys, The advantage is that the foot is brought into use to space between words. The boxes b b, in which the vibratingarms B B are journaled, are ranged in a semicircle or arc of a circle upon the table a, to which they are sccured, and so arranged by means ot' their topf bolts c c that the arms converge toward a common point on the registering-table D when the arms are depressed by the action of the keyboard. It thus becomes manifest that no two letters, iigures, or stops can be indicated in printing by manipulating the keys 4 4 at the same time, since the ends of adjacent arms would interfere.

When the machine is to be used to print, the ends of the arms B B, in which are secured the letters, igures, and stops, are in contact with the elastic cushion O, the weighted lever E has its front end elevated, and the cord connecting it with the left-hand end of the registering-table taut,77 the table D being at the same time in position as far to the right as it is designed to go. The operator, having inserted upon the registering-table the paper to be inscribed, beneath the inked ribbon, depresses the keys ofthe key-board consecutively with his fingers, according t-o the composition or text that he is copying', for each key is indirectly connected with a letter, ligure, or stop in the registeringend ofthe arms B B, which strike successively the inked ribbon, always at intervals equal to the distance between the letters printed, which is regulated by the distance of motion of the key itself, giving a succession ot' impressions on the paper. When a key is depressed the cord m is drawn ldown by the attached eye-staple l, and since it cannot be drawn from the right hand by reason ot' the coil about the staple 3, and the tension exerted on the cord to the right of the staple by the weight Q on the lever E, the left-hand end of the cord is drawn upon, which imparts a motion to the registering-table sufficient to space the letters of words, at the same time the weight Q descends suliciently to take up the slack of the cord; in the mean time the small weights k kkattached to the cords of the inked ribbon have moved downward, keeping the ribbon stretched over the registeringtable, thus preventing the descent of the type upon the same place on the ribbon as each letter is formed. X'Vhen a line has been printed and the registering-table moved to the extreme left the weighted end ofthe lever E is elevated this operation straightens out the cord land draws upon the registeringtable, moving it to the extreme right when the next line may be printed upon the paper on the table D. This operation is repeated, the paper impressed being advanced the requisite distance as each line is formed until the sheet or text is exhausted. In this machine the letters, stops, iigures, or emblems are arranged on the keyboard in a manner to facilitate rapid manipulation.

l claim as my inventionl. The combination of the keys 4 et, eyed staples l l, 2 2, and 3, lever E, cords l and m, and registering-table D, arranged to operate substantially in the manner shown 'and specied. d

2. The weighted cords 7c 7a, in combination with the inked ribbon j, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. rI he combination ot' the stirrup Fand one of the levers C, substantially as and for the purpose specified. Y

BENTON HALSTEAD.

Witnesses:

C. L. Frsnnu, H. l. LLOYD. 

